Seattle Trip

Our nephew Jake was getting married in Seattle and Nate and I went out with some of his siblings to be there on his big day. It was our first time in Seattle and we loved it! We had so much fun sneaking away for a few days to enjoy some of what Seattle and the PNW has to offer! We met up in Seattle with Diane and Gary, Aaron and Samantha, Jen, and Becca. The weather was beautiful the entire trip! I've often heard how overcast and rainy Seattle is but we lucked out! We also fell in love with Seattle! 

Our first stop was Pike Place Market in Seattle. It's an iconic market for good reason! It was fun to see all of the fresh food, fish, flowers, and produce. We bought some fruit there not realizing how expensive it is there! If I remember right, we paid about $40 for 6 white nectarines! We were dying! But we made sure to enjoy every bite of those things :)

We made it over to the infamous gum wall. It really is quite impressive to see all of that gum! And pretty gross!

We stopped for lunch at Beecher's and had the best homemade mac n cheese. It was cool to see the cheese mixing around in a huge vat.

We drove up to Kerry Park which is on a high and overlooks Seattle. It's a beautiful place location! We just hung out, enjoyed the perfect weather, and took some pictures of the beauty around us.

After that we had some time to kill before we checked into our VRBO so we went to the Washington Park Arboretum. The park is huge so we just walked a section of it. There's a path that winds around and all through the park. We just walked and talked and enjoyed the greenery around us.

Then we headed to our VRBO property. Well - to make a long, crazy story short, we never got in the VRBO property! Amie had originally booked the place on VRBO. It was a great home close to town. Sadly, she had to get her appendix out right before the trip so she had to stay home. When we got to the VRBO we realized we were never given a code for the lockbox to get the key out. We called Amie who realized she was never given the code and she realized the owner had never contacted her so she knew any information about how to get in the property. Nate then spent the next few hours on the phone with VRBO while others tried to call the owner (with no luck) and VRBO still couldn't help us!  A random neighbor came over to let us know that the owner of the home is SUPER flakey and how he's ghosted other guest before too. VRBO wouldn't refund our money despite us paying to stay at a place we couldn't get in. They sent us in circles and in the end couldn't help us. So...Nate eventually let them know we were homeless for the night and needed somewhere to sleep. So they decided to put us in a hotel for the night. And since we never got a hold of anyone that could help us, we ended up staying in a hotel the rest of the time. The most frustrating part was VRBO wouldn't give us our money back! Even months later. Erik finally had his credit card dispute it and we got refunded on that. But it was quite the ordeal!

Here we are hanging out at the VRBO property unable to get it.

The infamous lockbox we couldn't access...

While we waited, Diane and Gary got into town so we headed to dinner with them. Nate spent most of the dinner still on the phone figuring out our sleeping arrangements. 

VRBO finally said they'd pay for the Citizen M hotel for each of us. So we headed over there and it was the most unique hotel ever! There was naked artwork everywhere, eclectic decor, and the hotel rooms were smaller than a cruise ship!

Our room even had this creepy doll on the bed. This place was super odd! But hey, it was a free place to stay so we took it.

One plus of the creepy hotel was the location. We were in a great part of town. One morning Nate and I got up and went on a run to the Space Needle. It was fun to run through the city for some sightseeing.

Later that day we took the Bainbridge Island Ferry across the Puget Sound. It was a unique experience to drive our car onto the ferry and then drive off again. We met a woman on the ferry that told us about some of the fun places to see over on Bainbridge Island and beyond. We decided to visit Poulsbo which is a cute Norwegian town next to the water. The views of that little town made you feel like you were in a Hallmark movie! It was so pretty. We walked along the waterfront, shopped, ate out, and enjoyed the perfect weather.

Riding back along the ferry we loved the views of Seattle. It's a beautiful and unique city! 

We heard about a really yummy ice cream spot so that night we walked from our hotel to Salt & Straw. The ice cream flavors were very unique so it was fun to try something different.

Then we played some games in the lobby. It was so fun hanging out Nate's side of the family and spending quality time together!

Here are some examples of just how weird and creepy the hotel was...

It was definitely a memorable hotel for better or for worse!

One of the things I really wanted to do while in Seattle was find a nearby hike! We ended up hiking to Wallace Falls and it was beautiful! The PNW is so green and lush and I'm glad we had a perfect day to go explore! I loved seeing all of the moss and the thick trees along the trail because it's so different from Utah hikes.

The next morning we went to the Seattle temple to do sealings with everyone. It was a really special experience to be there as a family. 

That afternoon we went to Jake and Sarah's wedding. It was beautiful! It was at a park above the beach. The flowers were beautiful and so was the setting. Jared married them. Afterwards we went down to the beach for their reception. Jake married a girl named Sarah so now there are officially TWO Sarah Tadjes in the world :) I'm so glad we could be there and attend their special day!